There are many stories with the motif of hidden treasures of pirates such as Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Edgar Allan Poe's "Gold-Bug", but the origin of this is "Captain Kidd's Treasure Legend".
Captain Kidd, a man who was at the mercy of the times
William Kidd, also known as Captain Kidd, was born in a Scottish port town in the 1640s.
We always see the United Kingdom alone, but the truth is that it is a four-region United Kingdom, and England and Scotland have long been in conflict.
Religious issues are particularly big, and the conflict between Protestant and Catholic forces centered on the Anglican Church is fierce, and Kid, who was born into a Protestant minister's family, moved to North America in the wake of the crackdown on Protestantism promoted by Charles II. It is believed to have migrated.
In 1651, when Kid was still a child, the Navigation Act was enacted in England, and North America had a policy of excluding non-England vessels.
For this reason, smuggling is rampant, and Kid succeeds in building a fortune by following this trend.
In the 1670s, the Madrid Treaty was enacted with Spain and the privateer system was temporarily abolished, but when the enemy of England replaced Spain with the Bourbon dynasty of France, the privateer system to France Will be resurrected.
The privateer system is a system in which privateers are allowed to be looted to ships of enemy countries with the protection of the state. Kid organized a privateer fleet with the property he had built and started looting to France in 1690. Shows an activity to seize two French ships, but an incident occurs in which navigator Robert Clifford revolts against Kid and hijacks the ship and escapes.
Kid then reorganized the fleet and resumed looting the French ships, showing an activity that was commended by the colonial council.
Kid then heads to the Indian Ocean at the request of the British government.
During this period, Britain was deepening its ties with the Mughal Empire of India, and the ships of the East India Company of Britain were frequently attacked by ships of the Netherlands and France. At that time, Louis XIV was rampaging all over Europe, and he could not afford to send a fleet to the British government, and that role was turned to privateers like Kid.
Kid temporarily returned to England and departed Deptford on the banks of the Deptford Creek on the Adventure in 1696, where he was stopped by an English ship and forced the English Navy to recruit half of his crew. I am worried that I will be able to do it.
Kid finally set sail in the Atlantic Ocean to replenish the crew and rob the French ship, but at this time he did not encounter the French ship at all, and the crew was not very good quality. In addition, the employment condition was to pay according to the amount of looting.
From privateer to pirate
The Adventure, led by Kid, traveled from New York to the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean, but never encountered a French ship on the way, and that condition continued for 10 months.
That meant that the seafarers would not be paid, and it could be said that the seafarers' rebellion was imminent.
Kid makes a big decision here.
He changed the target of looting from authorized French ships to Arab ships. At that time, Arab merchants were the center of trade in the Indian Ocean, and Kid was aiming for it. There may have been a calculation in the kid that if it was plundered by a pagan, it would be seen more.
But Kid's decision was wrong. The Arabs at that time hired British ships as escorts.
Kid attacks the Arab ship he discovers, but is forced to withdraw after being attacked by the British ship that was escorting him.
Perhaps the tag was removed in this incident, privateer captain William Kidd was transformed into a pirate captain Kidd.
Kid's specialty is deception, first raising the French flag on the ship and approaching the French ship, and when the ship approaches, revealing the identity and looting, the target is no longer limited to French ships. It was gone.
Kid then attacks the Armenian ship one day and succeeds in looting.
However, the captain of this ship was an Englishman, which determined Kid's fall.
King William III of England issued an arrest warrant for Kid and sent a fleet to the Indian Ocean to subdue Kid.
It seems that Kid himself did not know, but there was already a peace between Britain and France, and Kid's privateer license had expired in the first place.
This kind of story is common when it comes to privateers. In an era without communication equipment, this kind of information confusion was common.
By the way, it seems that Kid was once encountered by Robert Clifford who robbed his ship at this time, and Robert was also turned into a pirate.
Kid's arrest
There is a clause that Kid didn't think he was guilty of.
Kid goes to Boston, North America, where he meets Count Belomont, whom he has been acquainted with for some time, at which time he is arrested.
He was then transferred to England, where he was tried and convicted in 1701 and sentenced to death.
His body was preservative-treated and left for several months to show off.
Kidd said at the time of the trial that he had hidden his treasure, and that the treasure was actually hidden when the investigation team headed for it at a later date.
However, because the amount was less than the declaration, it became a story that there must be other treasures of Captain Kidd, which is reflected in the novels of Stevenson and Po.
Personal evaluation of Captain William Kidd
Kid can be said to be a human being at the mercy of the times.
He was religiously persecuted by political changes, became a privateer, but had no success, and was found guilty and sentenced to death without being informed that the law had changed.
Pirates are mysterious, they are heroes if they are protected by the state like Morgan and Drake, and they are sentenced to death if they are stripped like Kid.
It makes me keenly aware that "justice" is an evaluation based on different positions.
Thanks to Stephenson and Po, Kid's name became very famous, and "the hidden treasure left by the pirates" became a model of the story and had a great influence on games, comics, movies, etc. Became.
Among them, the influence on the cartoon "One Piece" is tremendous, and the title One Piece is a common name for the treasure hidden by the pirate king Roger, and it goes without saying that the idea comes from the treasure of Captain Kidd.
The influence on world history itself is much smaller than that of Morgan and Drake, but it can be said that he was a person who had a great influence on posterity.